Gill-led IHF to hold AGM

Though it has been de-recognised, the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) will be holding its Annual General Meeting (AGM) in New Delhi on Sunday.

KPS Gill, who was suspended by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) in April 2008 and the IHF de-recognised, has called the meeting to discuss, among other things, the present state of hockey in the country and India’s performance in the World Cup.

“Mr Gill has called us to Delhi on April 25 to discuss the future of Indian hockey and a number of IHF units will be attending the meeting,” said a source close to the erstwhile IHF chief.

This will be the second AGM of the IHF after it was de-recognised.

The earlier one was held in September 2008 in New Delhi.

Though it is not on the agenda, the meeting is expected to firm up strategy against Hockey India (HI), which has now lost support of the Sports Ministry. The IHF has gained strength from the Ministry’s affidavit in the Delhi High Court, which said it no longer had faith in HI.

Gill’s move is surprising because he had merged the IHF with HI in June 2009 and agreed to participate in HI elections.

He was made a member of the ad hoc committee to govern the Delhi Hockey Association and was named one of its representatives in the HI electoral college in January, before the Rajasthan High Court stayed the affiliation process.

Sunday’s meeting is being seen as an attempt to garner support for a three-way contest in the HI elections against a group led by incumbents Vidya Stokes and Narinder Batra, and JB Roy and Amrit Bose. Though the process is currently stalled because of the court cases, HI have to hold elections before May 31 as per the deadline set by the international hockey federation(FIH).